A construction company can have loyal customers, a strong reputation, and experienced people—and still depend on the owner for nearly every decision.
For years, John Springstead’s business operated that way. Project information lived in his head. He handled troubleshooting, material orders, subcontractor coordination, field questions, estimating, and the daily decisions that kept jobs moving.
The company was busy, but cash flow remained tight, profit leaked out, and John worked approximately 60 hours a week.
In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, John explains how preconstruction, role clarity, stronger handoffs, and consistent implementation helped transform the company. John Springstead Construction increased annual revenue from approximately $1.7 million to $3.1 million, operated with two fewer employees, reduced non-elective change orders, and gave John a 34-hour workweek.
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Who This Episode Is For
This episode is for construction business owners who want the company to grow without increasing the owner’s workload and dependence.
It is especially relevant if you:
- Feel like every project question eventually reaches you
- Start projects with enough information to begin but not enough to finish
- Keep important project details in your head
- Experience ongoing cash-flow pressure despite staying busy
- Know profit is leaking through rework, missed changes, delays, or inefficiency
- Have capable employees but continue doing their work for them
- Want a stronger preconstruction and office-to-field handoff
- Need customers to follow a defined process
- Want to reduce field involvement and focus on the company
- Are trying to create a business that can eventually operate without you
Problems This Episode Helps Solve
This episode helps answer questions such as:
- How can a construction business run without the owner?
- Why does revenue growth fail to improve cash flow?
- How can preconstruction reduce field chaos?
- What should the team receive before a project begins?
- How do I get customers to make selections earlier?
- How can I stop doing my employees’ jobs?
- How does an accountability chart improve efficiency?
- Can a construction company increase revenue with fewer employees?
- How can systems reduce change orders and surprises?
- What is the best way to begin implementing several new processes?
Episode Summary
John Springstead owns a remodeling and renovation company in Glen Rock, New Jersey.
He began working in construction after attending trade school and started his first company with a Sawzall, his parents’ station wagon, and help from his brother. Although John became highly skilled at building and troubleshooting, the business side remained a challenge.
Estimating was inconsistent. Information lived in John’s head. There were few repeatable processes, and cash flow was a constant struggle.
By 2023, John knew the company had profit bleeds but did not yet understand their root causes. He reached out to Construction Leading Edge expecting to find and fix a few financial leaks.
Instead, he discovered that many of those leaks came from weak project preparation and incomplete handoffs.
The company had operated for decades using the same approach: get enough information to start and figure out the rest as the project progressed.
John began implementing a structured preconstruction process. The first major test was a $1.2 million project. The team gathered selections and information earlier, completed a detailed handoff, and gave the superintendent a project hub showing where important details could be found.
The project was completed in eight months without the delays John had experienced on earlier work.
That result changed the way the company operated.
Preconstruction became the foundation for material planning, trade coordination, schedules, selections, specifications, and project handoffs. The company developed a physical and digital project hub with online information and QR codes that employees and subcontractors could use in the field.
John also began allowing his team to own their roles.
His superintendent, Jonathan, took responsibility for operations, troubleshooting, material orders, and field decisions. John’s daughter, Shannon, helped organize data, preconstruction, sales, and company systems. Clearer accountability separated responsibilities that had previously overlapped.
As a result, John stopped waking up to questions about where crews, subcontractors, and materials needed to go. He moved from a roughly 60-hour week to approximately 34 hours, including a half-day on Wednesdays.
At the same time, the company increased annual revenue from approximately $1.7 million to $3.1 million while operating with two fewer employees.
Key Takeaways With Timestamps
00:03 – What would a business that runs without you look like?
Todd introduces the challenge of building a company where the team can run projects while the owner focuses on the bigger picture.
00:58 – Meet John Springstead
John owns a large-scale remodeling, renovation, and whole-house remodeling company in Glen Rock, New Jersey.
03:22 – A lifelong interest in building and problem-solving
John describes assembling toys as a child, attending trade school, and beginning his construction career with limited tools and resources.
04:46 – Early business experience exposed weak systems
John was skilled at producing work but lacked estimating, financial, and operational processes when he first attempted to operate independently.
06:11 – The 2008 downturn created another turning point
After his brother’s company closed, John considered home inspections before deciding to start John Springstead Construction.
07:35 – Hiring Shannon brought more data into the business
John’s daughter joined during the pandemic and began collecting information and helping the company become more organized.
09:04 – The company had systems, but they lived in John’s head
Cash flow was difficult, projects were not handled consistently, and important operating knowledge was undocumented.
09:32 – John initially wanted to stop the profit bleeds
He reached out because he knew money was leaking from the business, not because he was initially searching for a full systematization process.
10:01 – Financial uncertainty kept the company near zero
John describes repeatedly operating around zero cash or a negative balance without enough structure to identify what needed to change.
10:59 – The root cause was the handoff into construction
The company moved from winning the work to starting the work without a complete planning and preconstruction process.
11:29 – “Get enough to start and figure it out later” was the old system
John explains that this approach had defined the way he operated from 1991 until 2023.
12:28 – The first preconstruction process did not need to be perfect
The company began implementing the system on an active project and improved the process through real-world experience.
13:25 – A $1.2 million project became proof that the process worked
The company completed the project in approximately eight months and avoided the delays that had affected earlier jobs.
13:54 – The handoff gave the superintendent what he needed
The team reviewed the project in detail, provided a project book, and showed the field leader where all important information could be found.
14:22 – Preconstruction transformed the way the company worked
John realized that completing more decisions and planning before construction created a repeatable approach for future projects.
14:51 – High-paying clients still need to follow the process
Todd and John discuss the belief that contractors cannot require customers to make decisions or follow a structured project process.
15:21 – The contractor must recognize that they are the expert
John became more confident explaining why the company follows its process and why abandoning it would create a poor fit.
16:20 – Most clients want the contractor to lead
Customers generally appreciate understanding how the process works and what they need to do to move the project forward.
16:49 – Boundaries begin before the project starts
John gives the example of conducting sales meetings during business hours rather than automatically accepting evenings and weekends.
17:48 – Preconstruction created the greatest operational impact
John describes it as the system that streamlined lead times, project information, material planning, and field execution.
18:12 – The project hub makes information accessible
The company uses a binder, online information, specifications, and QR codes so employees and trade partners can locate project details.
18:42 – Let employees perform the work they own
John stopped ordering materials, calling subcontractors, and stepping into tasks that his superintendent could handle.
19:10 – Trust allows the field leader to solve problems
Jonathan now recommends solutions and manages project issues without requiring John to develop every answer.
19:40 – John moved out of daily operations and firefighting
Delegation created time for marketing, planning, strategy, and higher-value business work.
22:00 – John’s day no longer begins with operational questions
He has not received a morning call about crew assignments or subcontractor scheduling in approximately two years.
22:29 – A 60-hour week became a 34-hour week
John now works from approximately 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and takes a half-day on Wednesdays.
22:59 – The owner can focus on the company instead of individual jobs
John now works on sales, marketing, estimating, processes, and intentional company growth.
23:57 – Market before you urgently need work
John began marketing before a major gap appeared instead of depending entirely on referrals and reacting after work disappeared.
24:26 – The company nearly doubled revenue with fewer employees
Annual volume grew from approximately $1.7 million to $3.1 million while the company operated with two fewer employees.
25:25 – Streamlining replaced the need for immediate hiring
The accountability chart clarified the responsibilities of John, Shannon, and Jonathan without adding more people.
25:53 – Higher production no longer required chaos
The company completed approximately $400,000 of work in one month while the team remained calm and John maintained his regular schedule.
26:52 – Role clarity and preconstruction reduced chaos
John attributes the change to people knowing what they own and having more complete information before projects begin.
27:23 – Non-elective change orders fell to zero to four percent
The preconstruction process helped identify unavoidable costs, complex selections, and installation requirements before the contract was finalized.
27:53 – Clients understand the real cost of their selections earlier
When a selection exceeds the allowance or increases labor cost, the client can make an informed choice before construction.
28:21 – Preconstruction prevents many field surprises
Specifications, labor requirements, and costs are addressed before the team reaches that phase of the project.
29:50 – Work no longer follows John home
He explains that he used to leave the job physically while continuing to work through calls, planning, and problem-solving all evening.
30:18 – Freedom should extend to employees too
John wants team members to separate work and home life instead of remaining constantly available.
31:17 – The company is being built to support its people
John now sees the business as something that can provide careers, growth, and opportunity beyond his own involvement.
32:40 – Do not try to implement everything at once
John recommends choosing one or two high-impact systems and getting them into use.
33:10 – Implement before the process feels perfect
A process must be tested in the real business before the team can identify how to improve it.
34:11 – Process development requires a different mindset from construction
A building project may need to be correct before completion, but an internal system should improve through repeated use.
35:10 – Start with the area creating the most pain
Choose the fire, delay, or profit leak that is costing the most time or money and build the first process around it.
36:38 – John no longer feels like a slave to the company
He has learned that the organization can grow without requiring him to remain at the center of every activity.
37:08 – Employees can perform work better than the owner
John has become comfortable assigning work to Shannon and Jonathan and allowing them to improve it.
37:38 – Peer accountability helps the company continue improving
John describes the value of learning from other owners and being accountable for the changes he says he will make.
40:28 – A four-day workweek became a realistic goal
John is now working toward more owner freedom while also developing a deliberate marketing system.
41:25 – Difficult periods no longer force a return to old habits
When projects fall through, the company can continue improving instead of accepting poorly prepared work simply to create immediate cash flow.
Key Concepts From This Episode
Preconstruction
Preconstruction is the structured process of defining the project before field production begins.
It includes scope, selections, specifications, pricing, scheduling, procurement, trade coordination, and the information needed for a complete handoff.
Project Hub
The project hub is the central location where employees and trade partners find the current project information.
John’s company uses a physical binder, online access, specifications, and QR codes to make details available in the field.
Nail the Handoff
Nailing the handoff means transferring a prepared project from the office to the field with enough information to finish—not simply enough to start.
The receiving team knows what is being built, where information lives, and who is responsible for each part.
Role Clarity
Role clarity separates the responsibilities of the owner, office team, and operations leader.
Each person understands what they own, which reduces duplication, delays, micromanagement, and owner dependency.
Team Ownership
Team ownership develops when employees receive clear authority and are trusted to make decisions inside their roles.
The owner stays informed without stepping back into the work and taking responsibility away.
Progressive Implementation
Progressive implementation means launching a useful version of a process and improving it through repetition.
The system does not need to be perfect before the team begins using it.
Resources Mentioned
Construction Leading Edge Resources
Companies, Tools, and Programs Mentioned
People and Companies Mentioned
Recommended Next Step
Identify one area where the company still depends on you.
It may be material ordering, subcontractor coordination, project troubleshooting, estimating, scheduling, client updates, or answering field questions.
Define who should own that result, what information they need, and how you will stay informed without taking the responsibility back.
Then select one project and improve its preconstruction handoff before work begins.
If the business still relies on you to fill every process gap, apply for a Business Evaluation Call.
Client Success Stories
Want to see how other construction business owners are applying these ideas?
Watch client success stories from builders, remodelers, and general contractors who have worked with Construction Leading Edge to reduce chaos, improve their systems, and build companies that run with less owner dependency.
Related Episodes
Episode 442: The Nail the Handoff Framework: 4 Crucial Handoffs to Increase Profit and Eliminate Chaos
Todd Dawalt explains how construction companies can reduce chaos, protect profit, and free owners from the day-to-day by focusing on four crucial project handoffs from sales through operations.
Episode 430: Nail the Handoff System: Build a Rock-Solid Preconstruction Checklist Your Team Actually Follows
Todd Dawalt explains how builders can eliminate chaos, delays, profit bleeds, and field confusion by designing a team-owned pre-construction process that fully hands projects from the office to the field.
Episode 440: 3 Keys to Operating from a Position of Strength in High-End Remodeling with Andy Kolp
Andy Kolp explains how strengthening pre-construction, scope development, trade partner bids, client communication, and team systems helped his high-end remodeling company reduce surprises, protect margins, and create more owner freedom.
FAQ
How did John Springstead increase revenue while reducing his hours?
The company strengthened preconstruction, clarified roles, improved the office-to-field handoff, and allowed employees to own operations. John could then focus on higher-value company work instead of daily field problems.
What was causing the company’s profit bleeds?
A major cause was the weak handoff between winning the job and starting construction. Projects began without complete information, creating inefficiency, delays, missed costs, and reactive decisions.
What should be included in a construction project hub?
It may contain selections, specifications, schedules, scopes, contact information, procurement details, plans, approvals, and links or QR codes to the current digital information.
How can preconstruction reduce change orders?
Preconstruction identifies selections, costs, installation requirements, and project conditions before the contract is finalized. This reduces changes caused by incomplete information rather than optional client decisions.
How do you get construction clients to follow the company’s process?
Explain that the process exists to improve pricing, planning, schedule reliability, and the client experience. Then clearly communicate which decisions and information are required before construction begins.
Should the owner continue solving field problems after hiring an operations leader?
The owner should provide support and visibility without automatically taking the problem back. The operations leader needs authority and repeated opportunities to make decisions inside the role.
How should a construction company begin implementing systems?
Choose one or two systems connected to the greatest pain, cost, or chaos. Begin using a workable version and improve it through real-world feedback rather than waiting for perfection.
Todd Dawalt
Founder of Construction Leading Edge and host of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast
Todd Dawalt is the founder of Construction Leading Edge and host of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast. Since 2014, Todd and the Construction Leading Edge team have helped construction business owners systematize their companies, reduce chaos, improve profitability, and build businesses that run with less owner dependency.
Full Transcript
00:03
Have you ever felt like your construction business completely depends on you? Every decision, every problem, every phone call, nothing seems to move forward unless you’re involved. even when you try to step away, things start to unravel and fall apart. Now, imagine building a company where your team can run the projects without you constantly stepping in and you finally have the freedom to focus on the big picture and actually leave the office at p.m. m
00:31
You’re listening to the Construction Leading Edge podcast from constructionleadingedge.com, where we are all about systematizing your construction business to maximize three things, freedom, impact, and wealth. My name is Todd DeWalt, and my team and I have helped over 400 construction companies eliminate chaos, grow their teams, and grow their profits. Today on the show, we’re diving into a really important question.
00:58
What does it actually take to build a construction company that’s more profitable and runs without you being involved in every detail? To help us answer that, we’re joined by John Springstead, owner of John Springstead Construction in New Jersey. John’s been in construction since the early 90s, but for years his company ran the way that many construction businesses do. Everything lived in his head. He was constantly troubleshooting problems, constantly putting out fires.
01:26
and the business relied on him being everywhere at once. In this episode, you’re going to learn three key things. First, the one thing that allows your team to take ownership and runs projects without you. If you want your team to take ownership and run projects without you, you’re going to learn about that. Second, why a structured pre-construction process can eliminate chaos before a job even begins. John will talk about his experience and what his pre-construction process looks like.
01:56
And third, how John transformed his role from the daily firefighter to a business owner. How he created a company where his team runs the field while he focuses on growth and strategy. And you’ll hear how those changes allow John to step away from the constant day-to-day pressure going from 60-hour weeks and nonstop calls, even after hours, to a much calmer schedule where the team handles operations.
02:24
and he can actually leave the office every day at four. This is what a systematized business looks like under the hood. So if you’re ready to build a construction company that doesn’t depend on you for everything and start creating real freedom as an owner, if you want a business that runs without you, stick around for this episode of the Construction Leading Edge podcast with John Springstead. Enjoy. John, good to have you on the podcast.
02:53
How you doing today? I’m doing well. Thanks for having me. Give us a brief intro, who you are, name of your company, what kind of work you do and where you’re located. My name is John Springstead. My company name is John Springstead Construction. I’m out of Glen Rock, New Jersey, which is about 30 minutes west of New York City. We do large scale remodels, renovations and whole house remodels is our, we like to do. How did you, how’d you get started in business? I’m one of four.
03:22
I have an older sister and two younger brothers and the four of us are five years apart. So we’re very close. And I remember every single Christmas I put together every toy, every table, every anything that came through the door. And I always loved figuring out how things worked. I threw out the directions immediately and figured out how to get it together. And I loved the process on, on making things go and figuring out how things go. I wiggled my way through.
03:52
school and when it came time to go to college, my parents were like, you don’t want to go to college. was like, I guess so, you know, I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I ended up going to the universe university of Maine and I was not interested in anything that they had to offer. So I had fun for three years, went to trade school in Bangor, Maine. And when I got to trade school, I went for a construction and something was different. I loved it. I loved every.
04:20
class I took. loved every learning about every aspect of the home. I worked for a roofer in the summer. And when I graduated that trade school, I started a construction company with a sawzall, my parents’ station wagon and my brother. That’s how I got involved. And since that time, I have every job I’ve ever had or done has been in construction. So I will have my way up and learned and grew and
04:46
Eventually in 2011 started John Springs to construction and I had no partners and it was all mine and that’s where I took off. Nice. Probably seen a few bumps, bumps in the road. A few times of adversity. Yeah. What was one of the toughest seasons in business for you? I was in business with my brother from 1991 to 2000. We started in a recession.
05:15
We never really had any money. was, were very young and we just, like I said, we’re learning. was learning about construction. Then I went off because we were brothers and we butted heads a little bit, decided to go out and try my own. I was never a business person. I was always the producer. I produced on every job I was ever on. My brother was more of the business runner. So when I went out on my own in like 2001,
05:41
2002, whatever it was, it was a very short lived because I got a couple of good jobs, ran myself up into debt, produced, didn’t know how to estimate. Like I love to build, but I didn’t follow up with anything. Everything was done in my head. I had no estimating processes. had no anything and stalled. So that lasted for two years until I ran myself into debt and ended up going back to work for my brother as an uh interim.
06:11
During that time, I produced everything in the field again and he ran the business side of it. Then 2008 came and I guess that was probably the horrible time. He ended up going under because he ran, I learned a lot from how not to run a company, but he ended up going under and I went to school for home inspections because I love everything about homes. I loved building them. loved figuring them out. So I went to
06:40
become a home inspector for figure out what I was going to do because he was leaving. And at the last minute I was like, you know, I can do home inspections or I can try and do my own company. And that was like my jumping off point. in 2011, I started John Springsteen construction again with some spreadsheets and some, you know, how am going to do this? went to
07:06
construction shows like the journal like construction. And I think even back in maybe it was 2015 or something like that, I might’ve come across you at one of those shows. And I think that’s how your email bounced across my desk a couple of times. That’s how I got started in construction. And since 2011, it’s been nothing but a growing for me and learning. And I’ve really, like I said, I really enjoy what I do. And I think as I
07:35
go forward, get better at it, especially with the help of good people around me and stuff. You’ve been working with us for a while. You went through our systematize your construction business program in the spring of 2023. about three years ago now, what was going on that led you to reach out to us initially? In 2020, I hired my daughter, Shannon, who was a physics major in college, very smart.
08:04
but she wasn’t really, it was in COVID, nobody was getting jobs. So she asked me if I had stuff to do. And because I ran my company out of my basement and my head, I certainly could use some help. She worked with me and she was a very quick learner and she started taking data and she followed me around and she learned about construction and we tried to implement some stuff. And we had another employee, Jonathan, who had always worked with me since Shannon was probably.
08:35
six, seven years old. knew that I was running a company and I knew I wasn’t efficient, but I, but my customers loved me. I was honest, I’m straight shooter. I’ve been doing it a long time, but I knew that I was not as efficient as I could be. And Shannon was now collecting data. had data coming in a couple of years before that jumped in on Co-construct. So I’d started to get a little bit organized, but cashflow was a problem and
09:04
not doing anything the same twice. I knew it was a problem. Like I had systems in my head, but nothing was written down. So truth be told, the reason I called or reached out to you, I think I wanted to identify and solve some profit bleeds and I’d be fine. Like I don’t even think I was aware of the systematizing your stuff. Like I think I really wanted that one bullet point you had was
09:32
Do you have profit bleeds or whatever? And I’m like, I definitely have profit bleeds. So that’s when I reached out to you. Everybody should have a physics major in their construction company. I highly recommend it. Yes, I really do. If you go back to the time before you signed up and we started working together, what were some of your concerns? Do you remember what you were concerned about before you signed up? Why can’t I make money doing this? I felt like I was always.
10:01
always at zero or minus 50 grand. Like that was where I always worked. And it was like when I was minus 50 grand, it was so hard to keep jobs running because who do I pay? What suppliers can I order from? And then when I was at zero, it was like, okay, am I getting money to pay X, Y, and Z? It was a constant struggle, but because I wasn’t organized, I didn’t really know what to do. I knew that I didn’t have structure.
10:30
but I didn’t know what structure looked like. And talking with you, I realized that this was a little bit more than just trying to find a profit bleed and stop making trips to the lumber yard. One of the things I do believe in, when I invest in myself, things go pretty well. Not that it doesn’t make it any less scary, but when you’re trying to keep your head above water and you want to invest money in something, it’s like, do I pay somebody or do I take a leap of faith and invest in this? like, I gotta figure out something. So I started working with you guys.
10:59
Knowing what you know now, what were some of the main root causes of your profit bleeds that you were dealing with? The lack of communication from landing a job to going to start a job. You talk about it a lot. Like that’s how I ran my company on let’s get enough to get started and we’ll figure it out as we go. And that’s how I ran my company from, you know, 1991 to 2023.
11:29
That’s how I ran my company, not knowing that there was one a better way, but like when I look back on it, really the only way to do this was to implement the stuff that you were teaching us. And when I first heard you talk about the pre-construction, was like, that’s interesting. But I didn’t understand it. And then getting all that information and where does it live? How do you.
11:59
So that’s the process that we go through when we go through the SYCB. I recommend it to anybody because it just has changed so much about how we operate. It’s also freed me up completely, you know, so much overall. went through the SYCB program, you’ve learned how to create your pre-construction process and some other stuff in our program. Take us to the moment when you realized that the systems you’re implementing, that the work you were doing was actually working.
12:28
Was there a moment where you were like, wow, this shit works? Because we had landed a decent job and we were also going through S Y C B’s. Now we have to implement pre-construction yet we’ve never done it, but we have to act like we’ve done it before. I will tell you that a lot of the implementation for me, I get better at it as I do it. I didn’t start out with a perfect brief construction program. I.
12:56
said this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to pick everything out before we start, or we need damn near 75 % of it before we start. when little uncomfortable asking people to pick out, go pick out tile when we’re not even digging a hole, you know, and I can tell you how much I’ve learned so much from all of this, but I had to implement it and it wasn’t perfect, but it got, it’s still today is getting better and better as we do it. And I’m becoming much more comfortable with it.
13:25
I today would never go back to a job and be like, Oh yeah, we’ll start. You don’t need the roof right now. And the reason I would never do that is because that job that we started with our pre-construction on was a $1.2 million job. That’s a decent sized job for us. One of the larger jobs. We started it and we were complete in eight months, know, eight months, like to the day. And there were some challenging parts, but we were never delayed.
13:54
designer got involved late and came onto the job and was like changing things and we’re like, well, okay, but hold on. We still went over it everything and we still did it completely different than we did all of our other jobs because we had the information so much earlier and we were able to put a nice book together for our lead guy, Jonathan, who was able to run the jobs without me being there all the time. And that was in the nail the handoff kind of stuff that we do.
14:22
that big office meeting with our super and the main guy on the job. And we go through that project and we go every through everything with them. We don’t expect them to remember everything, but we tell them where everything is and they could find it. And it completely transformed the way we do work from that time forward. was like this, we got something here. one of the things people struggle with is what you mentioned. Said you were a little uncomfortable asking the customer to pick out tile before you had even started. Some people would say.
14:51
You know, these customers are paying us $1.2 million. We can’t tell them what to do. Right. We have to bend to them and we can’t force them to do anything. We can’t force them to make decisions. What would you tell people, builders and remodelers who believe that, what would you tell them? If you believe that it’s true, they are going to run it the way they want to do it. When I joined and met some of the people in the CEO Alliance and stuff like that, I’ll never forget I went there.
15:21
down to the one of the meetups. And I was talking with Michael Moore and he was like, just asking me like, how long you been doing this? I was like, since 1991, he was like, wow, that’s a lot of experience. And I was like, here I am joining this group and this is a guy that’s been there and he’s looking at me telling me, wow, you really got a lot of experience. And I’m like, I started to be like, you know what? I am the expert. He was telling me, you’re the expert. They’re not the expert.
15:50
And so today, like I don’t stand for somebody telling me how to do my job anymore because I’m very comfortable saying I used to do it that way. And a lot of people still do it that way. This is how we do it now. This is why if you’re not going to do it that way, that we won’t work well together. And it’s perfectly fine if they choose to work with somebody else. you found that customers wants that when you say, Hey, this is how we do it. Do they like that? Or are they, are they turned off by it? I think most people.
16:20
want to be told how your process is. I’m a people pleaser, so I like to conform to however they want me to do things, but it, it no longer works when they’re trying to run my job. I would say that maybe in the past I would be more compliant a little bit, but today it’s more like a lot of people do it that way. That’s not how we do it. And this is why. So they do like to hear that
16:49
This is the way they do it. One of the greatest examples I give is when somebody wants to meet me on a Saturday or at 5 30 at night. And it’s, if you go on your estimates at those times, that’s fine. But I tell people today, I meet during business hours. And if you need to meet on a Saturday or on a weeknight, it’s probably not going to be a good fit when we’re in construction either. maybe this and more times than not, they’ll be like, Oh, I could take off on Friday. I’ll be, can meet you at the house on.
17:20
And then I tell them when these are when my times are, and if they want to meet me, they meet me. If they don’t today, I am 100 % comfortable with them saying it’s not going to work. And I’m okay with that. you’ve done the work. You’ve been at this for a while. What would you say are some of the most impactful changes you’ve made to your business? Like what are the one or two or three systems or processes that you’ve implemented in your business that have had the most positive impact for you?
17:48
Pre-construction, bar none, is it streamlines everything. From pre-construction, we came up with a binder that is what we call our hub, which is where everything lives. We have QR codes. It’s all online too, so anybody can access it, but that’s also come out of pre-construction. Shannon’s putting that together. Over time, any one of our subs or our guys can walk onto the job and…
18:12
What’s this faucet? And there’s a sheet hanging in the bathroom with the specs and everything with QR codes. We try to make it as any proof as possible. We try to get all our guys on board. This is where you find it. But if they can’t, there’s going to be a QR code somewhere on the job and they can find out what it is. That was very impactful pre-construction bar none, because all my lead times became understandable. We weren’t waiting for things anymore. Everybody knew when the next person was coming to the job. So that was great. Another thing that was a huge impact for me was
18:42
in the learning to let my employees do their job instead of me trying to do their job. For years and years, I talked about Jonathan, who has been with me since before I even started this company. He’s worked next to me for 10 years. He knew how to do things, but I would always get in the way. would say, I’ll go, I’ll order the material. I’ll call the subs. I’ll do. And when we went through this,
19:10
And we sat down and we started talking about nailing the handoff and all that. He started to understand things a little bit more. He wanted to learn more. And today he calls me and tells me what’s going on on the jobs. You know, like all my life I was a master troubleshooter and he, because of his working with me is very good at it. And more times than not, I just say, John, I trust what you’re going to come up with. Go for it. And he comes up with an idea that’s better or as good as mine anyway. And.
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So he has really transformed into a new super that is just like, I’m out of day to day operations, which was what I, all I ever did. I’m out of firefighting, which is all huge impactful things that gives me the, know, how do I market? How do I do other things with the company? it’s Todd. We’ll get back to the episode in just a minute, but let me ask you something. Have you ever signed a contract and then everything starts to feel a little bit chaotic?
20:05
Questions fly around like, who’s ordering what? When does the job actually start? Is the team ready? Did anybody order this material? Has this been approved yet? Project starts to feel like a fire drill, right? Well, the biggest problem in most construction businesses isn’t a lack of effort. It’s not the people, it’s not the projects, it’s not the clients, it’s not you, it’s the gaps in your process. Gaps where details fall through the cracks, where nobody’s sure what to do, who’s doing what, when it gets done, and you, the owner,
20:34
end up filling in all those gaps, right? When there are questions, who they gotta call? If there’s a problem, it’s gonna land in your lap. And the biggest gap is pre-construction. And the solution is simple. Nailing the handoff from sales to construction. Nail the handoff from the office to the field. Your projects are like a relay race and there’s a baton that needs to be handed off. Nailing the handoff is a well-designed pre-construction process that closes those gaps, eliminates the chaos,
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and gives you back control and gives you back the time so you can work on the business instead of being buried in it. And we can help you build that process. The first step is to book a free business evaluation call with our team on your business evaluation call. Here’s what we’re gonna help you do. Spot the real gaps that are creating the chaos, show you how to nail the handoff and how doing that will put you back in control of your business.
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We’ll even uncover some of the hidden profit that’s already in your business. And if it makes sense, we’ll talk about how we can help you build a business that runs without you. Click the link in the show notes to schedule your call. Be advised, we only have a few spots available each week and not everybody qualifies for this call. This is not for everybody. So if you have a wave of work coming at you or you’re planning on growing and hiring people, now’s the time to close those gaps with a good…
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pre-construction process. If you’re ready to stop reacting and finally take control, this is your next step. Go book your free business evaluation call with my team today. talk about what’s different about your business and your day to day compared to three years ago before you started. S Y C B. First of all, what’s different about your day to day schedule and how you spend your time. Three years ago, I would wake up in the morning and get phone calls on who’s going to what job.
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What subs are going where is the material on the job? That’s how I would wake up and start all my days I haven’t gotten a phone call in I don’t think two years asking me where somebody’s going Jonathan’s taking that over. It’s taking it off my plate. He orders material so I Have a much more relaxing morning. I come into the office at eight o’clock I leave every day at four o’clock Wednesdays. I work a half a day. So I have a 34 hour work week where three years ago. I probably had a 60 hour work week
22:59
So just the time at the office is night and day of what I’m and I can come to the office and I stay here for most of the day. don’t run off to a job and go fix something, run off over here and meet a sub and go, which is how I did it for years and years and years. you’re in the office, what are you able to work on now that wasn’t really an option for you three years ago? I’m much more focused on.
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company as opposed to jobs. uh put an SLP together so that Shannon comes out on all my sales calls. So when we go out, we have specific times allotted for when we go on sales calls, we try and make each sales call the same. It’s still a learning process because what we have documented and how we actually execute it are not a hundred percent in sync yet, but we’re trying to get there. For instance, I’ve never marketed in my entire life until this past November.
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because I’ve always had a great name and a good reputation. So I never felt like I needed to market. I’m more able to focus like now I’m like, okay, well let’s market because even though I’ve never had to market before, I’ve learned that market before you need to, so you don’t have to try and fill million dollar gaps when somebody pulls out of a job, which I always just took for granted. But my focus is much more intentional on whether it’s specific job, whether it’s going on to meet clients, whether it’s going to subcontract to walkers.
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to bid projects, which we only do when we’re getting paid for the estimate. And there’s a whole list of things that I come in and I do daily. As opposed to starting off the day, firefighting and, and problem solving and all that, that’s gone. are some measurable or quantifiable results that you’ve seen in your business over the past few years, to the extent that you’re comfortable sharing? I would say three years ago, we did.
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I’m guessing, I think it was $1.7 million in volume. then today we have two less employees and they closed out the books last year at $3.1 million with two less employees. We’re a little off from where we want it to be this year. We had a couple of jobs that fell through that were very difficult to fill the voids, but we still have produced more with less people.
25:25
When we went through the S Y C V program, I remember we were done. My head was spinning with the amount of information we had and it was like, who do we hire? How do we get this done? And what ended up that we didn’t have to hire, we just had to streamline our processes. Like, the accountability chart, like when we actually did that work, all of a sudden my work and Jonathan’s work started to separate a little bit and Shannon and Jonathan’s work.
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started to separate a little bit and mine and Shannon started that. So we became more responsible for what we’re, we’re supposed to be doing. And everybody, think got a little calmer. So all the way to the fact that last June, so just six months ago, whatever, eight months ago, we had done $400,000 of work that June. And that was more than we had done the whole first quarter.
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Yet we were, everybody was calm. wasn’t, everybody wasn’t running around the office with their head on fire. I was still leaving at four every day. I was coming in at eight. Same thing with Shannon, Jonathan, had everything in the field going. So we had a lot of work going on and we were not in this chaos mode, which was fantastic. What do you attribute that reduced chaos to? What helped you eliminate the chaos specifically do you think?
26:52
So a combination of who, knows what they’re responsible for and the pre-construction, I cannot talk enough about pre-construction because the fact that I get all the information and I’m going to say all the information, listen, if they don’t know if they want lower in glass in their shower door or not, I’m not worried about that. But if I get as much information as I can before they start and I tell them that one of the beauties of the pre-construction is that our change orders on work that
27:23
is not optional that has to be done. Our change orders on projects over the past two years have been between zero and 4%, which I can’t tell you how many people ask me about contingencies on jobs. They’re like, what do we figure for contingencies to, should we put in 20 % and 25 %? What is it? And I’m like, I told them just that I go, listen, over the past two years, we’ve our extra charges on not elective stuff, but stuff that you are not able to control is between zero and 4%.
27:53
So I’m not putting more of a contingency than that because when we get paid for our estimate and we go through this project and you pick out everything, when you pick your powder room floor, that’s a water jet cut marble floor, we tell you in pre-construction, you picked out a tile that’s four times your allowance and it’s also caused twice as much to install. Is that what you want to do or would you rather pick something else?
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And they say half the times they say, not paying that much. Or they say, we really love the tile. So that price goes into the contract. And now when we go to do their bathroom, my tile guy knows what he’s installing. They know they have to seal it. know everything’s already done. So there is no extra charge because we did took care of it in pre-construction. It’s mind blowing how there’s a little bit of pushback at the beginning, but there’s not one customer that we have taken through pre-construction that has had said to us. That wasn’t a good idea.
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people love it when they’re, when they’re done and they are a hundred percent fully informed with everything that goes on in the project. Yeah. This pre-construction phase, it’s, it’s the secret. The work we do, it’s really, like it’s primarily around pre-construction and then other things kind of support it. there’s so many remodelers, especially in custom home builders and commercial GCs and even trade contractors. And they are, they’re just dealing with a pre-construction deficiency.
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They don’t know it. They can’t put their finger on it because the problems show up in the field. So they think that’s where the problem is, or they, they show up on the financials. show up with subcontractors. And the answer is you gotta have a good pre-construction process. And most people they don’t know. They’re like, what pre, what does that mean? That’s where it’s at. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely is. I’m curious. What are some results you’ve seen over the past, now that you’ve been doing this for.
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But part of three years, what are some results that can’t necessarily be measured? Could be personal stuff, quality of life. How do you sleep? Stuff like that. Just last week, my super Jonathan came in, sat across the desk from me. goes, he looks at me, he goes, do you ever get away from it? And I’m like, what are you talking about? He’s like, work. Can you ever get away from it? I’m like, I’m like, what’s going on? I said, actually, yeah, I can, but what what’s up? He goes.
30:18
I was sitting on home and I was scrolling through my Instagram. And next thing you know, I’m on co-construct and I’m answering some questions for my hour clients. And I’m like, John, I’ll tell you, years ago, I left work, but I was still working the entire time I was home. I mean, if somebody calls me, I’m answering the phone, some contractors, clients, I’m always talking to somebody. got to set up tomorrow’s day. So that is a hundred percent done. And I made it a very.
30:48
specific point to tell him it’s important for you to separate time at home and time with work. Because not only does that true for me, but I want it to be true for my employees. I don’t want them to have to answer. Now, if there’s something going on on a job where I used to three in the morning, used to go fix a leak, he’s taking care of that. It doesn’t happen often, but you’re like, those are things that he’s taking care of because that’s part of his responsibility. It’s very important to separate work from not work.
31:17
So one of the non-measurable is like Jonathan over the past, I think last year he bought a home working for me. He put a kitchen in, you know, by himself. These are unmeasurable things that are awesome to see. You know, like I get to watch Shannon who came to me very smart, but like her role, I would get to watch her role change and be like, where do we want this company to go? You know, like in the past, before Shannon got here in 2020,
31:46
I was pretty sure I was just going to chug along and do this for as long as I could and drift off into, know, whatever. But today it’s like I’m building a company to support the people around me. I want this company around without me. I want to be better. I want to leave this company better when I get out than when I was here. So that’s something that’s exciting to do. I don’t know. I haven’t given myself a timeframe on that, but it’s definitely.
32:15
A light I could save, you know, like I don’t have to just bend nails until I can’t move anymore. You you’ve done a great job. You and Shannon have both done a great job of implementing and sticking to the process. You went through SYCB, you joined the CEO Alliance. What would you say are some of the, maybe the top one or two challenges you grappled with as you worked to implement these changes in your business? The biggest obstacle.
32:40
is trying to do for me was like, okay, I have all this information. How do I get it all done? How do I implement all of this? And if you look at that, it’s an overwhelming mountain that I don’t think I could be like, oh my God, I have to implement all this, all this stuff. I don’t even know how to start. If I could give anybody any advice, I would, I would say do it slowly. Pick one or two that you want to implement and by all means implement them.
33:10
And that doesn’t mean implement it when you think it’s perfect. Implement it so that you start doing it so that you can modify it as you go. Because I can tell you everything that I’ve implemented that we’ve learned from you guys at some point, it’s like, okay, we have to tweak it for some reason. And we always tweak it to get better. Just like I always try to improve my standards. It’s the same thing with the systems. I’m always going to try and improve the stuff that you’ve guys have given me as a baseline to start on.
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tell that by look, just look at our revenue maximizer that Shat Henry did. Everything has to get started. And if you try and get it perfect to start it, I know I would never work on it. I’d be like, it’s not perfect. I can’t do it. I’m much more of a like, okay, that’s close. Let’s run with it see where it goes. That’s really good advice because a lot of people get stuck thinking that their processes have to be like their projects.
34:11
Right. Because when you build a project, it’s got to be right. can’t be 80 % right. It it’s got to be right because of the risks. But when it comes to processes, it’s a different mindset. You have to get it going and get some real life feedback and then improve it. And a lot of people get stuck thinking, well, it has to be perfect. This process, this checklist, this document, this role has to be perfect before I even try it.
34:41
And they just keep tweaking it and tweaking it and it never gets out into, into the real world. So that that’s great advice. Manish used a great analogy once it’s like a football team. If they drop a new play at some point, you have to run the play. You have to get some reps and see how it works. Then you can improve it. You can’t just keep drawing X’s and O’s on the whiteboard infinitely. get to run the play and it’s the same way with the process. So yeah.
35:10
Pick something that’s going to give you the most bang for your buck. Where’s the most pain worth or the most fires. What’s costing you the most time. Pick that. Implement a process, get it going. It could be half ass to start with, but you’ve absolutely got to get it going. I’m curious, have there been any unexpected side effects? Maybe there’s something like, wow, I didn’t, I didn’t sign up for this, but this is something I didn’t expect, but I like it. CEO Alliance itself is a great.
35:40
club. I don’t know what you want to call it. It is really, it’s dynamite. And the people in there, I work best when I’m held to account. And when I joined the CEO Alliance, it put me in a spot where, okay, I don’t want to disappoint. I don’t want to not do things for people. It’s an added layer of, I’m doing this for something else. Meaning like,
36:09
Again, if we’re in our group meetings and we’re saying we’ve got to do something, I don’t want to be the one guy that’s not doing it. There’s a ton of things I still need to work on for my business, but it’s more manageable. It’s not as big of a problem as the ones I came here with. mentioned the CEO Alliance. So you’ve been in that program for think over two years now, maybe right after you finished SYCB. What accomplishment.
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Are you most proud of that you have achieved over the past couple of years being in the CEO of Alliance? Anything come to mind? don’t think that I am a slave to my company anymore. I believe that there are certain ways for me to grow this company so that I don’t need to be at the heart of it. It’s really nice to see.
37:08
My employees, Jonathan, Shannon in particular, do things way better than I could do it. Especially if it’s something that I don’t like to do. Give them a job, let them do it, let them do it better than I do it. And realize that if you want to slow something down, just throw it on my desk. It’s going to, we’ll slow it down. You know, there’s rarely a time that an email or a text comes into my phone that doesn’t get attached to Shannon or Jonathan so that I know somebody’s taking care of it. let’s talk about the CEO Alliance a little bit. How would you describe.
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the CEO Alliance in your own words, and then what has being part of that done for you? I love being part of a bigger whole. And I think that I’ve been a part of three different groups because some people leave. And I have to say at the end of my one-on-one with Manish the other day, I’m like, can you give me an idea of why somebody would leave this? Because right now I’m in a group and I’m really like the people that are in it are really, right on the five people in our cohort.
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are the five companies are really lights out. It’s awesome. And I asked Manish why some people like leave. And he said it’s mostly because people say the same thing over and over again. They don’t change. They’re not going to, I really believe that the CEO lines helps me to change my company into a better place from top down.
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You know, I love, like I said, watching my employees grow and be part of something bigger. think that the CEO holds me to that. think everybody at these meetups is somebody worth talking to, to learn something about how they do things. We’ve taken things from other companies that are priorities on our front now that I would have never thought of. And everybody’s willing to share what works with them. I don’t feel like there’s actually a company right down, literally right up 208, which is only
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three or four miles from us, White Maple, who I’ve become, we’re very friendly. They’re doing a great job. I think it’s awesome that, you know, like, cause I was asked if I cared if somebody, I didn’t know who they were, but they asked if it was okay. And I was like, I don’t, I love big contractors. This industry gets a bad rap because
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People, everybody knows a horror story of construction. Everybody. Every single job I go on to that they’ve had work done, I ask them why they’re not using their last contractor, you know? And almost a hundred times out of a hundred, it’s, well, they didn’t at the end didn’t do this or they didn’t do that or, and they’re always upset with the project that they had done. And I don’t get to witness that because I don’t have those customers. And it’s not that I was, listen, when I was running jobs,
39:59
Unlike how I’m doing it now, I still tried to keep my customers happy. was just so much more difficult because every project was like, it was, mean, I did it, but it was very difficult to get the material there and the subs there. But now with this schedule and systems, it’s so much easier. What’s one goal that you’re focused on right now that maybe you didn’t even think was possible three years ago.
40:28
So one is a four day work week for myself. I think it’s doable. just have to, I would like to, I’ll get there hopefully by the end of the year. And the other thing is we’re working with a marketing company now that I said earlier that in my, from 1991 to 2025 of November, I had never marketed other than a magazine ad and
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people that I’ve talked to in the CEO lines, some people spending $200,000 a year on marketing, some people spending, you know, $2,000 a month. So the range is enormous, but this past year we lost a couple of pretty significant jobs and it left us in a spot where it wasn’t work that I could fill in, like you can’t fill in a million dollar job, but when we slowed down, we were able to learn and still work as opposed to
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jump into landing a job that I don’t have everything for and just try to get some income in. So I guess what I’m saying is not going back to my old ways in difficult times helps me to grow. And taking on that marketing was a pretty big goal of ours. was one that I never thought I needed. I always thought I could be a referral, but there’s so much work that’s missed on just referrals because there’s…
41:53
Just it’s a massive, the amount. I learned that from you guys because I was never expecting to market. so we’re in it. We’re not expecting any monster results just yet, but I think we’re in it at the right time because we can focus a little bit on it just before we get ready to hit the run in, the spring. definitely makes your business much more resilient. If you’re marketing to have a steady flow of leads.
42:20
And if you think about it as if your approach is to help people, if you have a good business and you provide a good service like you do and provide a good experience, then you can almost convince yourself you have a moral obligation to do some marketing so people can find out about you. So they don’t have to work with those other guys that gave them a bad experience, different way of thinking about marketing. It’s not like I only market if I have to, it’s I market because it’s, it’s the right thing to do. And I’m trying to.
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to help people out. last question for you. What’s your hometown? And if somebody’s ever visiting, where’s the bar or restaurant they absolutely have to go to while they’re in that town? So my office is in Glenroth, New Jersey. I would have to say there’s a ton of great bars and restaurants, all kinds of sports bars and restaurants around here. We are only about 25 minutes from New York city. So if that’s
43:17
If you need to find something, there’s something for everybody here, but I don’t have a specific one in Glen rock. can always go to the Glen rock and it’s right down the street. I don’t know that I would fly into Glen rock to go to the Glen rock in, but it’s a nice place to visit. they were going to go to the city, where would you recommend they go? Well, I’m a huge ranger fan. So I go right to the garden. Where would I go in the city? I couldn’t even name a restaurant. There are so many of them that I would follow my wife. My wife was a foodie in the family. There you go. Follow your wife.
43:46
All right. Well, if folks want to connect with you, follow you on social media, find out more about what you’re doing, hire you for a job, perhaps maybe apply for a job. Where’s the best place or the best places for them to go, John? So our website is JohnSpringsteadConstruction. Instagram is also at JohnSpringsteadConstruction. My website has a contacts page. It’s where to find me. We’ll have those links in the show notes. John.
44:15
Congratulations on the success over the past few years. remember our conversation from about three years ago and where you were at. And it’s been fun to watch you guys change and grow since then. And I’m really impressed with the work you guys have done. You’ve increased revenue significantly. You have fewer employees. You’re working fewer hours. It’s all because of the good work you guys have done. Nice job implementing. That’s what it’s all about.
44:42
We have a lot of great tools, but some people implement well like yourselves and some don’t. You guys are reaping the rewards from good implementation. Nice job. Thanks for taking the time to be on here. And speaking of meetups, look forward to seeing you in Cancun next week. week in a day. Yeah. We’ll see you there. I’m excited. Yeah. Our first international meetup. I’m sure it’ll be a good time. All right, John. Thanks man. Thanks Todd.
45:07
Hey, it’s Todd. Before you go, if you own a construction business and you know you need to put the right systems in place, whether it’s to be able to scale up, to be able to take a proper vacation, step away from day-to-day operations, if you know you need to make it more profitable or even prepare it for a future sale, if you know you need to make some changes in your business, there are really only three options. And I want to clarify this for you. Option one is do nothing. Keep doing the status quo.
45:33
Same inputs, same results. Keep doing the same thing that you’ve been doing. Option two is to DIY it, to do it yourself. You can try to reinvent the wheel, piece together solutions from books and podcasts, hope that trial and error gets you where you wanna go. In my experience, this is the path of most resistance. Or there’s option three, which is to find a proven system that delivers the results you’re looking for.
45:58
Think about it, sort of like when you sign up for software for project management or bookkeeping, you probably didn’t try to code your own software, right? You found a system that works. So that’s a proven system that gets you the results you’re looking for. Well, if you’re ready to systematize your construction business, we’ve helped hundreds of construction business owners implement our proven processes, including our nail the handoff pre-construction system. It works for home builders, remodelers, commercial general contractors.
46:24
and trade contractors like electricians, plumbers, roofers. The first step is simple, schedule a free business evaluation call with my team. Just click the link in the show notes to book your call. On that call, you’ll walk away with clarity on the hidden root causes of your biggest challenges. You’ll learn about the pitfalls that you wanna avoid as you move forward with your business, and you’ll walk away with a customized roadmap that you can follow to get where you want to go. This is not a sales pitch, okay?
46:54
There’s no pressure. We may not even talk about working together. You may not even hear about our program. This is all about evaluating your business. It’s going to be the most valuable hour that you’ve spent working on your business in a long time. So don’t wait. Click the link in the show notes to book your free business evaluation call now. And the last thing, if you’ve been enjoying this podcast and getting value out of it, I’ve got a quick favor to ask. Could you take a moment and leave a five star rating and maybe a short review on the platform that you’re listening or watching on?
47:24
It really helps the podcast grow. lets other people know what to expect. Plus, I love to hear your feedback. It means a lot to me. Thanks so much. My name is Todd DeWalt from constructionleadingedge.com and I’ll catch you on the next episode.
